Happenings

June 18, 2016

Artists with a focus on the disciplines of short film and video are all painfully familiar with the multitude of challenges they face when publicly exhibiting their work in settings outside the traditional theatre or school/church basement. If they choose to project it on the wall of a gallery or museum and there's no special darkened space available in which to display it, their work can be as washed out as a pair of '80s acid jeans. If they present it on a television or external display, they run the risk of ending up in some back corner so lonely and remote that no one will take notice. If audio is absolutely imperative to the integrity of the piece, it can easily get lost in the sound and fury of an opening reception and/or end up competing with the audio of other works, creating an indiscernible cacophony of aural madness. And the annoying list goes on.

However, there are times when film and video do get their deserved due in glorious grandeur without having to be part of a film festival, and tonight's Temporary Resurfacing II event is one of those times.

Temporary Resurfacing II is the second round of a one-night-only happening that debuted back in September 2014. Like its inaugural, tonight's event entails the projection of short film and video on exterior surfaces of buildings—with some works also presented inside—along two blocks of West Historic Mitchell Street in Milwaukee. Unlike the 2014 exhibition, though, this one actually managed to garner much needed funding support from the Milwaukee Arts Board in the form of a $2500.00 grant as well as a substantial donation of visual/audio equipment use and professional staffing from local production company Majic Productions.

Organized by Milwaukee-based artists Demitra Copoulos, Marla Sanvick and Maeve Jackson, Temporary Resurfacing II features 30 works created by 36 regional, national and international artists who are all—wait for it—getting paid. Well stop the presses and give 'em a hearty WHOOT!

Tonight's exhibition brings back several artists who participated in 2014, including Ted Brusubardis—whose piece Pacel Galvu became one of the best short videos I've experienced in many moons when it was shown in an appropriately darkened room at Portrait Society Gallery earlier this year—Adam Carr, Sara Condo, Cathy Cook, Paul Druecke, Kim Miller, Andrew Swant, Wes Tank, Xav Leplae, and co-organizer Marla Sanvick.

The exhibition runs tonight, Saturday June 18, 2016, from 8:30PM to 12 midnight on West Historic Mitchell Street, between South 11th and South 9th Streets.

Check out the Temporary Resurfacing website for further details and a handy map. On the site you'll also find a Donation tab, which, according to Copoulos, will remain there after the event so you can say Thank You for a presentation of short film and video done big and beautiful, and show your support for future Resurfacings. There will also be a donation station located on 10th and Mitchell during the event.

May 25, 2016

For those who don't regularly bide their time immersed in the intellectual circles of artsy musician types, the term "new music" can be confounding. Like its kissing visual cousin "contemporary art", it sounds and feels too vague to be of practical use as a definition of a movement or genre. Though, as a point of comparison, one can argue—and many of us do—that the mainstream genre term "indie" hardly serves as a denotation of precision, since much of the music categorized as such is not produced independently but is rather the product of sub-labels owned by corporate labels, so how then can "indie" mean independent in any real sense, huh?! Um, haha, yeah, I'll just take a breath here. Out with the bad, in with the good.

Okay, so when we are confronted with the term "new music" it is reasonable to ask two questions: 1) How new is new? and 2) When is new not new anymore? If we look for answers by researching the programs performed by ensembles of the genre, we will, without fail, find ourselves frustrated. As a general rule, new music concert programs primarily focus on the work of living composers, but what does it mean if a piece performed was composed 30, 40 or even 50 years ago? Is it still new or does it qualify simply because the composer is still kickin' around? Maybe. And what if an ensemble performs the world premiere of a piece in the course of a varied program? Does it make that piece more new than the other new works in the program? Perhaps. But how would we describe it then? New-new? Ultra-new? Super-duper-mega-new? Dunno.

In short, as with contemporary art, the exhibitions of which can represent a time frame anywhere from the 1930s to last week—i.e. longer than the average lifespan—we must let reason go, relax, and open ourselves up to the work as it is presented. And, in doing so, hopefully come to an understanding that cannot be gained while our brains annoyingly chatter away about logic and time and historical context.

Now, when I make a grand statement such as the above, I of course expect you highly intelligent consumers of information to test my assertion by having the experience yourselves. And your next best chance to achieve this sublime sensory comprehension of new music is on Friday, June 3, 2016, when Milwaukee's own Present Music performs its 34th Season Finale at Turner Hall Ballroom.

Featuring guest conductor David Bloom, conductor and founding co-artistic director of the much lauded New York-based Contemporaneous, the concert program is jam packed with challenging pieces. Click, watch and listen, people:

That last one is just about as new a piece of new music as you could hope to be performed, really. Though there's no evidence—or need—to suggest we should, we'll go ahead call it ultra-new, as I'm pretty sure it lost its super-duper-mega-new status once it turned one year old.

Since David Bloom was among those to commission Still Life initially and he happens to be the guest conductor for Present Music's concert, I wondered how much of a role he'd played in deciding on the full program for the Finale. I sent him an email, to which he kindly responded:

"Kevin [Stalheim, artistic director of Present Music] was very interested in hearing my thoughts on shaping the program, so we designed the concert collaboratively. He encouraged me to bring some repertoire that hasn’t been done in Milwaukee, which turned out to be something of a challenge since Present Music has done so much great new music that I know and love. Kevin gave me some broad strokes about what he had in mind for this season finale, and he went for my wildest dream pieces."

Now that's exactly the situation you want as a guest conductor, isn’t it? Yes, yes it is.

Bloom also expressed his admiration for the Present Music organization and its work with genuine enthusiasm as well as his excitement at having this first opportunity to work with its musicians:

"I've been a fan of Present Music from afar since I learned several years ago about the amazing work they do, so I was elated to see a note from Kevin inviting me to conduct a concert with the ensemble. Present Music is a fantastic example of a group whose work locally has gained a much-deserved reputation nationally for excellent programming.

I was very excited to take the invitation initially because of the opportunity to work with such a great group of players, but the reasons for my anticipation have only grown with time. The more I look into the past programs of Present Music, the more amazed I am at the ambition and innovation that the ensemble has presented for the people of Milwaukee for 34 years. What's more, the organization's deep community ties through its engagement programs and impressively large following demonstrate that Present Music will continue to be a catalyst for musical creativity well into the future."

Ah, it always feel good to get props from the outside, reminding us that we should never take for granted those exceptional groups and individuals living and working and doing good in our own midst.

Present Music's 34th Season Finale is on Friday, June 3, 2016 at Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 North 4th Street. Get your tickets here! Added Bonus: There is an after party, featuring the musical stylings of local band Painted Caves, described by their record label, Amarrass Records, as "Middle Eastern-influenced psychedelic grooves meet California surf rock." For those of you who've never heard them, that'll be even more ultra-new music!

February 17, 2016

All those who commit themselves to the practice of writing poetry derive their art from asking questions, eventually learning to express their discoveries through their own unique voice. This process is often painstakingly slow, involving much angst and joy and pounding of the delete button with one finger that exhibits a fierce strength reserved for that purpose alone. Needless to say, only the very tenacious survive the experience and live to repeat it over and over again.

So when it is announced that a poet of such stalwart caliber, namely Richard Blanco, is coming to town, one best take note and start asking one's own questions. And that's exactly what I did when I was alerted by Milwaukee's award-winning poet and LGBTQ activist Carmen Murguia of Blanco's upcoming appearance.

Sitting down with Murguia last week over hot cappuccino and chai—not in the same cup, of course. Blech!—she told me a tale that begins with the idea springing forth from a casual conversation she had with Carl Szatmary, owner of Outwords Books. Seeking poetry recommendations, Szatmary suggested Blanco's work to Murguia and, lo, the notion of bringing Blanco to town was born and it was good.

Through many months of communication with Blanco's publicist and sponsorship proposals made to several local organizations without success, the event seemed dead in the water. But the good and determined people at Milwaukee Public Library would not let it perish and managed to find enough poetry loving donors to bring Blanco to town. Huzzah and Hooray!

For those unfamiliar, Richard Blanco's biography reads as anything but straight forward. Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1968 to exiled Cuban parents, Blanco and his family immigrated to the United States when he was just weeks old and settled in Miami. That brief yet complex history alone would provide enough source material for anyone to begin the work of probing the Biggest of Big Identity Questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? How do I fit into this world? But Blanco would face yet another emotional and intellectual challenge as he learned to come to terms with his homosexuality and embrace his true self.

Though well-known within literary circles since the publication of his first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, in 1998, Blanco is most widely recognized as the first Latino and openly gay writer to serve as inaugural poet of the United States. As many may recall, he wrote the poem "One Today" and read it at President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony on January 21, 2013.

Since then, Blanco has published a memoir, The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood (2014), and a children's book of "One Today," illustrated by Dav Pilkey. He is also Co-Creator, along with author and poet Ruth Behar, of a blog called Bridges to/from Cuba: Lifting the Emotional Embargo, which seeks to provide "a cultural and artistic platform for sharing the real lives and complex emotional histories of thousands of Cubans across the globe."

The Richard Blanco event is this Saturday, February 20, 2016, from 7-9PM, at Centennial Hall in the Milwaukee Public Library's Central Library—enter on Eighth Street, between Wells Street and Wisconsin Avenue. A Q&A session and book signing will follow Blanco's talk, and his works will be available for sale from Outwords Books.

January 21, 2016

For the intellectually curious and the infinitely patient among you, the results of the survey I recruited y'all to take waaay back in November are now available for download here. Well hot diggity, we can hardly believe it, right? Yup diggity.

As some may recall, the survey was designed to examine the relationship between social media network communication and the development of artistic collaboration. Also, it was created to get me some Stats learnin' credits to apply toward the long-delayed completion of my BA in Comparative Literature. So how did I/you/we do? I/you/we got an A, people, so nice work!

Anyhoo, the results are presented in the standard APA style of a quantitative study. While the prospect of reading an academic paper may sound comparable to the oh-so pleasurable experience of eating sand, this one's not that bad—really, I swear. Plus it's about art and you love art, so there's that.

A sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated and shared the invitation with others! In the most literal way possible, I could not have done it with you. Hooray for Us!

As most of you have no idea, I was recently accepted back as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) after a decision of I'll-just-take-a-semester-off somehow turned into I'll-just-take-12-years-off—HA! The goal? To once and for all finish up my degree in Comparative Literature. Shout-out to the Comp Lit Geeks!

Anyhoo, one of the required joys of this educational process is the successful completion of a Stats class—Yuck! While I hold all Masters o' Math in very high regard, working with numerals is not my greatest strength. Happily though, I have been afforded the opportunity to turn Yuck! into Yay! by focusing my individual research on the subject I love best: Art in all its forms.

With that in mind, I have created a survey examining the relationship between social media network communication and the development of artistic collaboration. Interesting, no? Yes!

Artists of any and all disciplines are invited to take part, so if you're one of those CLICK HERE!

And, because I know y'all are curiouser than the curiousest cats on the planet, results will be posted on this here blog once the data analysis is compete.

Rest assured, all of your responses will be kept strictly confidential. No individual participant will ever be identified with his/her answers. Added Bonus: It should only take about 15-20 minutes.

Take the survey now! Also, share this with your artsy friends so they can join in the statistical fun!

July 16, 2015

Let's be blunt: Non-objective art has some serious personality issues. Like so many artistic terms whose names and meanings spring from the minds of the original off-kilter crowd--a.k.a. us--non-objective art exists in a space of inherent contradiction. It is an intangible idea that must express itself through the tangible. It is work devoid of any representation of objects that must present itself through objects. It is, in and of itself, a paradox, therefore providing the greatest opportunities for a downright trippy experience.

In the larger timeline of human history, non-objective or abstract art has not been deemed by the Guardians Of The Western Art World as an acceptable form of expression for very long, though evidence of its widespread use and acceptance by the humble hoi polloi goes back to the very birth of our let's-put-a-design-on-this-thing-so-it's-not-so-bloody-boring instincts. Thankfully, a few people back in the late 19th century thought it might be fun to start exploring this early inclination and then, because we can never leave well enough alone, complicate it with deep philosophy. Hooray for us!

Anyhoo, by the time the 20th Century glided in, the few had grown to a fair number. Then we tried super hard to annihilate ourselves in the Great War (1914-1918), a global trauma that jump-started many new art movements and bolstered the rolls of non-objective/abstract practitioners and admirers. Then we tried super extra hard to wipe ourselves off the planet again in the Second World War (1939-1945), after which even more artsy folks were drawn to the simple yet complex non-objective/abstract path.

One of those artists went by the name of Lucia Stern (neé Martha Ida Lucia Karker; 1895-1987), who lived her entire life in Milwaukee. With a bio as fascinating as any of the most famous and a resume that bespeaks her absolute dedication to the practice and advocacy of the arts, Stern has nevertheless been largely, though not totally, ignored. And to that we all shout, "Booooo!"

Well, kids, we may now rejoice, turning our deafening "Booooo!" to a hearty "Yay!" as that legacy of neglect of Stern's, erm, legacy ends tomorrow with the one-night only Lucia Stern: Why Not Be In On It exhibition at Usable Space.

Curated by Neil Gasparka and Elisabeth Albeck, the exhibition finds its roots in a not uncommon story: An individual sees a piece by an artist he/she has never heard of and is floored. He/she then becomes single-mindedly intent on finding out as much about the artist and her work as possible and is again knocked-out. Then he/she says with great passion, usually to him/herself, "I must share the tale of this outstanding artist and her work with the world!" And so he/she does. The End.

Actually, there's a whole lotta detail and whatnot not outlined there, so I sat down with Gasparka for a small chat to flesh-out the story. Turns out that last November, while working in the Preparatory Department at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), he was the one who had the all-important encounter of the uninitiated--MAM has a couple of Stern works in its collection. He was very impressed, to say the least, and did a bit o' research to find out more about her and her work. Then, as sometimes happens, he got distracted.

Meanwhile, having engaged in many conversations in which he spoke about this artist with such admiration, Gasparka's partner, Elisabeth Albeck, surprised him with a Christmas present of an original Stern, purchased on--wait for it--eBay. With that, the passion was back in full force and, in January, both Gasparka and Albeck committed to curating the exhibition.

Needless to say, the past five months have seen Gasparka and Albeck invest countless hours of research and plod through hip wader deep layers of logistics to get this show up and ready for your viewing pleasure.

There will be fourteen pieces total on display, as well as archival photos, an audio interview and a video interview with the artist, generously on loan from the Haggerty Museum of Art, MAM, Timothy Cobb Fine Arts, Milwaukee Public Library, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library. Two private collectors along with Gasparka and Albeck are also contributing work.

Of additional note, since Stern was also a writer and poet, twelve brave souls have agreed to read some of her literature at the event, including the entirety of her 1971 chapbook, Criteria For Modern Art.

As we stated before but with far less emphasis, Lucia Stern: Why Not Be In On It is a ONE-NIGHT ONLY show, so there are no second chances, kids. Get yourselves over to Usable Space, 1950b S. Hilbert Street in Milwaukee, tomorrow night, Friday July 17. The exhibition runs from 6:30-9:30PM, with readings beginning at 8PM. See y'all there!

March 27, 2015

A learned and enlightened sage, whose name has long been lost to time, once said, "From the moment we emerge from our mother's womb and take our first breath, we are bound to the land by our evolutionary path, and those who brave the beautiful yet fickle waves of Poseidon's domain are both undeniable fools and indisputable heroes." One eyewitness to this momentous speech reported that the great philosopher then added, "So if ya think I'm climbing aboard that floating deathtrap willingly, you got another thing comin'!"

Thus these mostly wise words effectively describe the deep and highly complex emotions we feel when we stand upon the brink of any body of water, whether it be the enormous sea, one of the many Great Lakes or the kiddie pool at our cousin's fourth birthday party. There is joy. There is wonder. There is fear.

And yet we go--we dive in, swim through and sail upon. But as air-breathing mammals with bodies ill-equipped for longterm marine life, we of course must find ways to deal with and express our complicated relationship with H2O, salted and fresh. Enter maritime art and song, offering such a broad kaleidoscope of human emotion--jubilance, jealousy, sorrow, anger, desire, contentment--it can easily be transcribed as metaphor for any other aspect or way of life.

Conceptual/craft/installation artist and landlubber Maggie Sasso fairly recently became enamored with maritime culture--with its curious tools, tables, symbols, and signs--and its powerful storytelling ability. As she puts it, while conducting research for an exhibition in 2010, she came across a book of sea charts and was, er, hooked.

"Through further research I fell in love with the aesthetics of ships and sailors, it's a very flexible aesthetic, one that can be overtly humorous and stylized, or quite sombre, it can be industrial or highly ornate and decorative… I also fell in love with the navigational/inventive aspects of sailing as well as the exploratory aspects. It was, and still is a dangerous activity, the sailor is ultimately at the mercy of the sea, something we are so far removed from on dry and civilized land."

After moving to the shores of Lake Michigan in March 2011 and getting a taste of the lake air, Sasso developed an intricate project from a simple action: Hoisting a homemade flag pennant on the bare flag poll attached to her apartment building. Through observation of that flag as well as a miniature flag buffeted by a small fan, she gathered data--such as wind speed and thread condition--and invented other related objects. This project would eventually culminate as an installation, accompanied by a hand drawn manual, in the group exhibition The Story of Six at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, Tennessee.

Now Sasso is poised to open a new solo exhibition, Haul Away Home, at Gallery 2622 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, but the concepts are far deeper and much more emotional than those she had explored in her previous work.

At the heart of Haul Away Home is a very personal story--one that tells of her close neighbor's tragic suicide, the discovery of his body and the feelings of stunned helplessness that followed. By all accounts, Fred, a lifelong bachelor, was the best neighbor anyone could have. He was cheerful, friendly, helpful, intelligent, and kind. But like many who commit suicide, he gave no obvious outward signs that he would ever take his own life, leaving Sasso, her husband Ben and their other close neighbor to grapple with endless questions and the sense that perhaps they could have done something to prevent it, that maybe they could have saved him if they'd only had the right tools.

To both honor Fred's life and explore the process of grieving that his death set in motion, Sasso turned to the maritime culture she had grown to love, which inherently lends itself to diametrical expressions of the jovial and the somber. Having inherited some of Fred's possessions, for Haul Away Home Sasso chose his mechanic's jumpsuit and oil rag as visual representations of his life and work, placing both objects in a raft with an American flag, his empty uniform laid in repose, and conjuring similar nautical memorial images.

Sasso also crafted a slew of common maritime objects, including oars, a flare, a life vest, a rope float--ya know, those brightly colored, floaty thingies that tell us where we can safely swim--and a life preserver. All of these pieces are made from cloth, sewn like pillows to imitate the look of their functional doppelgängers but of no practical use. In addition, she made a nautical-inspired dress, adorned with hand-embroidered badges.

The description of how all these objects interplay with one another is best left to the artist:

"While the smallest objects in the show, the badges [on the dress] represent the macro version of the story, and the largest piece in the show, the large raft with Fred's mechanic outfit, is the micro version of the story. The badges rectify the difference between learning something artificially, the way a girl scout would earn a badge, and learning from experience the way I did when I discovered Fred. No amount of preparation can really prepare you for a sudden, intense and visceral experience. The Life Vest, Life Preserver, Oars and Flare are also all handmade. These objects are each rescue devices, that because of their material are ineffective as actual rescue devices. They are hung on the walls around the raft, offering levity to the situation, but no concrete help. These objects directly reflect the way in which Fred gave us no options to help him. The only thing I could do was call 911, which is why the Flare piece has erupted, a way call upon the professionals so they could process the situation through the proper channels."

That's a lot to take in, no? Yes. But don't think for a minute that Sasso was done yet. In the great tradition of maritime music, she also wrote, performed and recorded her own little ditty, along with some ambient sound, which can be heard playing during the exhibition. For those who'd like a preview listen, Sasso has kindly uploaded it to her site.

The opening reception for Haul Away Home is on Friday, April 3, 2015, from 6-9PM at Gallery 2622, located at 2622 North Wauwatosa Avenue in Wauwatosa. The exhibition will only be on-view for one month, April 3-30, so don't dawdle, kids.

January 26, 2015

A collaboration between the visual and literary arts is hardly a newfangled thing--it's been goin' on from the moment the two art forms locked eyes above the hot sparks of the campfire, undeniably drawn to each other's unique strengths of expression, driving them to converge and dance together until long after the light of the last ember was extinguished. In other words, it was love, people.

But what makes a union of these two divergent disciplines genuinely successful and, therefore, a cut above the rest is the thoughtfulness of process and power of execution brought to the creative marriage by the artists themselves.

As evidenced by their 2-year online project, shutters/dead ends/lens/pens, both visual artist/photographer William Zuback and writer David P. Press have consistently delivered the high level artistic goods necessary to claim such a genuine success. Now all that's left is to bring it from the digital into the physical world through an exhibition at Inspiration Studios.

Loosely based on the age-old call-and-response tradition--ya know, somethin' like when I say "Art!" you say "Love It!" "Art!" "Love It!"--shutters/dead ends/lens/pens is anything but traditional. Beginning with a prose poem call by Press and followed by a photographic image response by Zuback, the caller and respondent alternate over 14 chapters. So the pattern is write/shoot, shoot/write, and repeat.

But what really makes the project stand out is the execution, as the responses are not literal interpretations but rather born of intense focus on detail and intangible atmosphere.

As Zuback put it during an interview over coffee, his approach as respondent was to zero in on specific phrases while also feeling the internal rhythm of Press' prose, very much like jazz musicians do while engaging in improvisational jams.

Press expanded on that by stating that the project was really a contrapuntal exercise--which is just a fancy and much less wordy way saying a place where opposing or independent ideas meet--which provided room for spontaneity and nonlinear story-telling. For him too, it was in the detail and mood of Zuback's images where he found the root of his responses.

Just as the collaboration follows its own method, so too does the exhibition schedule. There will be three openings of shutters/dead ends/lens/pens, which runs January 31-February 28, 2015 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 South 73rd Street in West Allis:

As a super bonus, actors from The Village Players will be giving staged readings of Press' prose poems while Zuback's images are projected on the gallery walls during each opening. It's multi-media madness!

Keep in mind that all 14 chapters--each one comprised of a photo and a prose poem, framed and ready to hang--will be for sale, so be sure to bring your wallet, coin purse, or comically marked money bag.

November 11, 2014

In the copious annals of independent bookstores, there seems always to be many more stories of brutal defeat than glorious triumph. Over the past 20 years, this supposition has become so much of a hard truth that the inherently happy-go-lucky chroniclers and archivists of the history of print purveyors often turn despondent and grumpy, and even a cup o' tea and a catnap won't snap 'em out of it.

Well today we have good news for the afore mentioned bedraggled lot, and for anyone else who cherishes the warm atmosphere, personal service and distinctive smell of local bookshops: Woodland Pattern Book Center is turing 34 years old and it ain't going anywhere, folks!

"34 years?!" I hear you cry. "How many is that in human years? Like, a thousand?" Uh, close. Not quite, but close.

Anyhoo, founded by Anne Kingsbury and Karl Gartung, Woodland Pattern has been an intellectual and artistic hub in Milwaukee since 1979. The Center's longevity can be ascribed to two things: 1) a laser focus on small press literature that can be found nowhere else in town, and 2) a complete dedication to the arts through exhibitions, live music performances, workshops, and lectures. Ask Amazon if it can do all that. HAHA! Nope, it can't.

To celebrate this grand history and an equally grand future, a gala--that's a fancy shindig--will be held this Friday, November 14. This year's Honorees are author/former Woodland Pattern board member Martha Bergland and tireless, long-time Woodland Pattern supporter Maureen Magee.

Taking the stage as the main event will be poet/activist/musician Edward Sanders with composer/musician Steven Taylor. Never heard of 'em? Well, lemme fill ya in.

Sanders is a founding member of the legendary--and I mean LEGENDARY--group The Fugs, an underground rock band started in 1964 in New York City. At that same time, Sanders was the owner of Peace Eye Bookstore and publisher of the awesomely titled literary journal, Fuck You/A Magazine of the Arts--well, all right! Over the years, Sanders has published numerous books of poetry and prose.

For Steven Taylor's part, he became a member of the Fugs a bit later on and his additional claim to fame is nothing short of fabulous, having worked as a composer performing with none other than Allen Ginsberg for many years. What?! Yeah, you heard me.

Okay, so the Woodland Pattern Anniversary Gala is Friday, November 14, 2014, at the Kenilworth Studios, Sixth Floor Raw Space, 1915 East Kenilworth Place in Milwaukee. There is a reception beginning at 5:30PM and the program begins at 7PM.

I have it on the ultimate authority--and that is via Woodland Pattern's Director of Marketing & Development, Amanda [Ngoho] Reavey--that tickets are still available. Call 414-263-5001 or click on over to the WP website. You can, of course, also stop by the Center itself at 720 E. Locust Street to get your tix and bask in the glow of a bookstore that keeps right on going.